Blind go virtually unseen in job market - Stigma over disabilities limits employment chances

Failing to secure employment on completion of his first degree in 2012, blind University of the West Indies (UWI) graduate Shavane Daley decided to conduct an experiment that has convinced him that his disability has made him unemployable in the formal sector.

Daley said he and his friends, one blind and another without a disability, sent out several resumes and noted the responses or lack of feedback after submitting their applications.

“We applied for jobs showing that we had a disability and we applied for some jobs that don’t show that we have a disability, and we got practically calls for all of those where we didn’t show that we have a disability,” he said.

“When we went for those interviews, they were like, ‘Why didn’t you say that you have a disability, and how are you going to be able to do the job? Yes, your resume looks good, but how are you going to do the job’?” was the reaction he and his blind friend generally got.

His friend, who didn’t have a disability, was able to secure a job, along with most of the persons who graduated in his year, as far as he is aware. Apart from a brief stint as a research assistant at the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission and as a student worker at The UWI, employment opportunities have not been forthcoming.

That’s not an unfamiliar story for thousands of Jamaicans who are disabled, a crisis that has drawn renewed scrutiny as the world prepares to commemorate International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Thursday, December 3.

Daley, 32, has been blind for 18 years. He lost his sight just before he went to Jamaica College, after surgery he underwent to remove cataracts resulted in gradual damage to his eyes. At The UWI, he pursued a degree in psychology, with a minor in entertainment and cultural enterprise management. He then started his master’s in cultural studies and graduated in 2016.

“There is a still a level of discrimination, because even with the qualification that I have, when I apply for a job, they would say, yes, you are qualified, but how are you going to see to do the work?’

“I hear that a lot of times,” said Daley.

In order to support himself, the university graduate has started his own company that manages artistes and provides public relations service.

“I’m just trying to see how best I can carve a little niche in the entertainment industry for myself,” he said.

State minister in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Zavia Mayne, revealed in 2018 that while there are 200,000 persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Jamaica, according to the census, fewer than one per cent are employed. He said PWDs are one of the most vulnerable groups in Jamaica.

NEGATIVE PERCEPTIONS

Executive director of the Combined Disabilities Association (CDA), Gloria Goffe, agrees with this assessment. She finds that there are several perceptions that have resulted in the high unemployment rate within the PWD community. Oftentimes, their disability is considered before their qualifications.

“It is a situation where the perception is that you cannot be meaningfully employed, and be very productive, so employing you might just be a conscience call, wanting to help, and therefore sometimes your salary remains at the minimum wage or, maybe, depending on what you are doing, a little above that,” she said.

She told The Gleaner that some disabled persons have been able to get jobs within the government sector, but private companies are sometimes not as willing to employ PWDs.

“Business people feel we are in the business to make money, and if we employ persons with certain types of disabilities, we will be slowing up productivity, or we don’t get as much out of these individuals, so we have to pay two for one, because some of what they are supposed to do, somebody else will have to do it. That’s a perception,” she said.

The reality is that some PWDs do not have the qualifications to secure high-paying jobs – a phenomenon linked to inequities in the education sector. Accessing higher education is especially problematic for those in rural Jamaica where getting to a tertiary or vocational institution is not as easy because of transportation challenges.

Executive director of the Jamaica Association for the Deaf, Kimberly Sherlock Marriott-Blake, said that most deaf persons are employed at supermarkets, or within a factory setting. She finds that deaf persons generally do not get well-paying or consistent jobs.

“There is still an attitudinal barrier that assumes that a deaf person is incapable of managing in a work environment or managing employment in different ways,” she told The Gleaner.

As unemployment increases because of the COVID-19 fallout, executive director for the Jamaica Society for the Blind, Conrad Harris, suspects it will become even more difficult for those with a disability to get jobs. The pandemic has caused Jamaica’s unemployment rate to rise by more than half from 7.2 per cent to 12.6 per cent.

He said his organisation has collaborated with the HEART/NSTA Trust to train some blind persons in customer service. They will also be starting a programme in early January that will see persons being trained for online jobs such as doing voice-overs and being telephone customer service representatives.

Harris said that blind persons still continue to face discrimination in the job market, but proving this might be difficult.

“Many people are not going to come and say, ‘OK, we are not going to employ you because you are blind’, so most times the only time you get a chance to query it is if you know the other persons who have applied and you know their qualifications, but you will not know that all the time,” he said.

nadine.wilson@gleanerjm.com